Show Off Your Sins

First off, this is a reminder (or perhaps this is the first you’re hearing?) that you have a little under a week to submit videos for inclusion in the upcoming “Depravity 2017” music video. There’s a video with examples on the “Show Off Your Sins” page, as well as details, a release form, etc. I’m going to provide a little background and behind the scenes right here to fill you in on what this is all about.

Before I get to all of that, let me update you on how this whole switch back to music has been going:

In short, fantastic! I am so much happier than I have been in years. I love photography and art, but those were always things I studied in support of music. Art and photography feel much more natural to me when I use them in that context. As for the music itself, those who remember the older versions of Pulse Depravity have given a lot of positive feedback on the new arrangements and mixes, so it feels like the project is off to a great start! Also, a buddy of mine is working “Because” into a backing track for one of his YouTube videos, so I’ll link that when it’s available. I love it when my work can support the work of others so it’s great that this happened so quickly!

So about this music video crowdsourcing effort: The concept of the “Depravity” video is a subversion, or maybe even a tongue-in-cheek parody, of the rest of the Pulse Depravity videos. Basically, as some of you may have noticed, there are some rather adult themes running through Pulse Depravity. In addition to exploring social, economic, and political issues throughout the album, I don’t shy away from sexual or violent imagery both as an aesthetic and as a way of driving home a point. There is a real danger that this could lead to a dark, depressing album for a lot of people, whereas I’m actually intending for it to be a celebration! (albeit, perhaps, a black one… DM references FTW!!!)

With the “Show Off Your Sins” crowdsourcing effort, my goal is to gather video clips of the kinds of silly and fun things that drive people crazy, but aren’t ‘really’ that awful. Things like using comic sans on a resume, or wearing socks with sandals, or saying ‘nucular‘ instead of ‘nuclear’, are irritating as hell to a lot of people, to the point that discussions about them begin to sound similar to the conversations ‘witch hunters’ might have had during various inquisitions. So much of what we think of as ‘depravity’ or ‘sin’ is really just an arbitrary social agreement to hate something that doesn’t really affect us in any way. It’s just part of the human condition and there’s not much we can do about it (fight against one, another replaces it). No one these days seems to care that I play Dungeons & Dragons, for example, but somehow the fact that I like to drink soda sweetened with aspartame seems actively bothersome and/or terrifying to many. The reverse was much more true back in the 90’s. Funny stuff in a way 😉

So, whatever sorts of things you guys find ‘sinful’ these days, the sillier the better, film it and send it my way. Let me know if you need more info, ideas, etc., and I will do my best to help! Happy filming 😀